How to make the most of your time on your wedding day

You’ve done it! You’ve started to plan the spectacular wedding day you’d envisioned (perhaps with the help of a certain Pink Palms), your guests are all coming, your suppliers are booked. Now you can relax, right? Well, there might be one more thing to sort, and that’s your wedding day timeline! To make sure your day is as smooth and stress free as possible, here are 5 things to think about in your Wedding Day Timeline (yes, you do need one!).

Room Turnarounds

Does your wedding venue have one room that will be used throughout the day? For example, if one area will be used for the drinks reception that will also be transformed into the wedding breakfast room, you will need to allow enough time for that to happen - especially if you have a wedding stylist or florist who needs to install some special items or arrangements. Plan time into your day for this turnaround to happen comfortably; speaking to your venue and suppliers about this will help, as they should be able to advise. Also, think about a plan for your guests while this is happening - we don’t want your slightly tipsy friends sneaking off to see what’s behind the closed doors before it’s finished!

2. Mingling Takes Time

You’ve invited friends, family and loved ones to celebrate your wedding day with you, in some cases from across the country or even the world! Therefore, you want to make sure you’re able to get round all your guests to say your hellos, thank yous and receive all your congratulatory hugs. When planning your wedding day timeline, consider how long this may take based on your number of guests and factor it in, including the fact that some of your guests may just be there for the daytime or evening. The drinks reception seems the obvious moment, but this is when your photographer whisks you both away for family & couple shots. Your wedding coordinator, if you have one, will be able to help you plan around this.

3. Food Quantities

Depending on the timing of your drinks reception relative to the wedding breakfast, you need to think about how much food you will make available for your guests. If you’re having a long drinks reception, by which we mean more than an hour and a half, you’ll need to make sure you provide extra food in the form of canapés or nibbles. Keeping your guests topped up with alcohol and not feeding them before the wedding breakfast is a recipe for chaos and early departures!

4. Speech Timings

When planning your speeches, you might be tempted to split them up over dinner out of worry that your guests may get restless or it may take a long time. However, this is not a great idea for your kitchen! As we know speeches overrun, and if your kitchen staff are waiting until the second speech ends before they can serve the main course, they may end up delayed and then the main meal could be ruined. Some catering companies are more than happy to accommodate split speeches but it usually depends on what you’ve chosen for your main meal, so communicate with them & seek their advice. Encourage your speech-givers to keep them concise if this is a worry, and we advise doing them all together or at the end of the meal!

5. Consider a Wedding Coordinator

Even if you’ve planned and organised your wedding day yourself, think about hiring a wedding day coordinator. It’s impossible to go from project lead/wedding planner to guest of honour and be able to totally relax! It’s a coordinator’s job to design a wedding day timeline for you based on their wealth of experience and your plans, to ensure your day runs as smoothly as possible. They’ll have all the best knowledge and tips on how to structure your day, including where to leave ‘wiggle room’ in your timings. Better yet,Pink Palms also set up & style for you so you get the best of both worlds - an impeccably styled wedding & we’re there to make sure the day actually runs to this time too!

To summarise, your wedding day timeline might seem like an afterthought or a non-essential element, but you’ve worked so hard to put together the perfect day that it would be a shame not to ensure its seamless execution!

If you want more details and advice on planning your wedding day timeline and someone to coordinate your day, get in touch!